Well - BUBBLEGUM! When your frozen food storage fails?!?

[American123]

Sounds like a forced "invite the neighborhood for a bbq" event.

 

[aflineman]

Unload it before it thaws out and leaks all over the place. Had my little apartment one fail on me while on vacation. Very bad mess.

 

[The Heretic]

Highschool me strongly dissagrees.

High School me was 50 years ago

 

[The Heretic]

Unload it before it thaws out and leaks all over the place. Had my little apartment one fail on me while on vacation. Very bad mess.

It's in the shop - concrete floor. Things are still frozen, but temp was 35* when I put the dry ice in (15#).

 

[The Heretic]

Ice cream lives matter, call me... 867-5201, save the ice cream!!!! i'm in.

Too late - poured it out - literally

 

[The Heretic]

Dry ice can be difficult to find, and you almost need to go thru a BGC w/ID. Forget about the expense.
I believe last time I bought some for a project for a grandson years ago, there was a minimum required age limit, so ID required, no matter how many gray, white, silver or any hairs , one may have. It seems like I was quizzed regarding the purpose of my intended purchase. Any more, we are all guilty & must prove ourselves innocent. More gubermint bullgumm.

I like & use the bottled water idea. Depending on the weather at the time, it may be possible to freeze o/s in a short time, if you are not already building preparations. I'm on a well & w/o backup emergency power support pumps are well known to fail at the most inappropriate times!

I'd be interested to assist, send me smoke signal when its dinner!!!

You can make your own dry ice with a bottle of CO2.

 

[Camelfilter]

Bubblegum!

Sorry to hear of the failure, hope you find a suitable replacement quickly!

Once you do, mayhaps consider getting more than enough "free" decent coolers should similar occur, & simply to have on hand. Provided space available. Shopping runs & camping aside, may be a stopgap, if only for simple defrosting/cleaning/reorganizing.

If you know folks in healthcare/labs (as an example), perhaps ask them if they can grab some reagent shipping boxes for you. Can get ones around the size of a 48qt plastic cooler, with thicker insulation.

 

[The Heretic]

If you know folks in healthcare/labs (as an example), perhaps ask them if they can grab some reagent shipping boxes for you. Can get ones around the size of a 48qt plastic cooler, with thicker insulation.

Member of the family gets meds regularly in smallish styrofoam containers with "ice" packets. When I get the new freezer I will put the fish fillets I buy in those containers then put those in the freezer on top of the layer of "ice" packs.

I have, for the past couple of years, turned the freezer to the max cold thinking that this would make it last longer if the power went out. It probably did, but it also may have shortened the lifetime of the freezer. It usually kept it between -10* and -20*. I think zero degrees would be sufficient, so that is what I will set the new one too.

 

[OldBroad44]

Chest freezers may be better than upright in such situations. If opened when freezer is off, the cold air stays in the chest. With an upright when you open it all the cold air drains out and is replaced with warm air, which raises the temperature of the food. Used chest freezers are also often available cheap on Craigs list as people replace them with uprights.

 

[Stomper]

That REALY sucks and I feel for you. I also hate to kick a guy when he's down, buuuuttttt……. eventually you'll look back at this and laugh!

Not very likely to be able to jerk that much meat that quickly.

 

[Camelfilter]

Member of the family gets meds regularly in smallish styrofoam containers with "ice" packets. When I get the new freezer I will put the fish fillets I buy in those containers then put those in the freezer on top of the layer of "ice" packs.

I have, for the past couple of years, turned the freezer to the max cold thinking that this would make it last longer if the power went out. It probably did, but it also may have shortened the lifetime of the freezer. It usually kept it between -10* and -20*. I think zero degrees would be sufficient, so that is what I will set the new one too.

Zero Farenheight would be fine, I figure as well.

I tend to think on refridge/freezer temps in Celsius.

That's around -18C. Roundabouts what our freezers are at home (-20C). That is also around the typical low range of inexpensive battery remote non-freezer specific sensors.

No idea on residential low range of freezer specific sensors/alarms.

 

[ST5565]

What do you do?

25 cubic feet of frozen food.

It is one thing if the power fails, but the chest freezer itself?

What to do?

Backup freezer? Costs twice as much and just sits there unused - or, full up and not usable as a backup.

Can't order/buy a replacement in time to save the food.

Cook it? Then what? Eat 25 CF of meat? Jerky? Not very likely to be able to jerk that much meat that quickly.

I saved the salmon and shrimp, but about 60% of the food can't be saved.

Well we don't have a freezer other than the one that comes with the fridge. BUT we do have access to a freeze dryer and it is a whole nother world with food storage with that. Meat, poultry, veggies...almost anything you can freeze you can freeze dry. I grant you the initial start up cost can be high but how much money was wasted when your freezer wasn't working. Might be worth looking into.

 

[The Heretic]

Zero Farenheight would be fine, I figure as well.

I tend to think on refridge/freezer temps in Celsius.

That's around -18C. Roundabouts what our freezers are at home (-20C). That is also around the typical low range of inexpensive battery remote non-freezer specific sensors.

No idea on residential low range of freezer specific sensors/alarms.

I have had an inexpensive temp gauge on the freezer for years. I have noticed that the temp can vary quite a bit - by about ten degrees.

 

[ST5565]

I think if you have homeowners insurance, some policies cover freezer failure and loss of food. But I'm not sure if it has to be a power failure or just the freezer dying

 

[Certaindeaf]

I think if you have homeowners insurance, some policies cover freezer failure and loss of food. But I'm not sure if it has to be a power failure or just the freezer dying

These days if you claim squat you're dropped.

 

[ST5565]

Yeah ain't that the truth

 

[The Heretic]

So it appears the dry ice is keeping things cold - the gauge says it is ~30* inside down from 34*, and there is still some water ice here and there. Good to know. It did cool down outside - it is 49* this morning. Supposed to be cooler this weekend. I've got all the doors and windows open with several fans to cool down the house.

 

[Camelfilter]

So it appears the dry ice is keeping things cold - the gauge says it is ~30* inside down from 34*, and there is still some water ice here and there. Good to know. It did cool down outside - it is 49* this morning. Supposed to be cooler this weekend. I've got all the doors and windows open with several fans to cool down the house.

Yah, its ~ -100F, neato stuff. Solid CO2, that goes rite to gas as it warms (sublimates).

 

[Dinglenutz]

What do you do?

25 cubic feet of frozen food.

It is one thing if the power fails, but the chest freezer itself?

7 cuft chest freezers are available in store at Home Depot - take the opportunity to move your eggs into several baskets.

 

[The Heretic]

7 cuft chest freezers are available in store at Home Depot - take the opportunity to move your eggs into several baskets.

I thought about that but went ahead and ordered the larger freezer anyway. Maybe that is a mistake.